He said: “It was totally deserved. We had two points from eight games, so what was I going to ask for?

“Of course, I wanted more time as a coach, and the manager would be the same, but in football sometimes you don’t get that time. It’s a feeling. They call you in to sack you and it’s not nice.

“You want to hide for a while, I didn’t like it, it felt like I’d done something really bad.

“When I was at Spurs as a coach, we won the League Cup at Wembley and it was incredible... and then came the consequences of winning the cup: Changing the team and getting the sack.

“I’ve got no bad feelings towards Spurs, they were outstanding with me always as a player and a coach, I had a great time there. I couldn’t win anything as a player there but I won as a coach for all the Spurs fans.

“Before this game though there is no relationship, it’s three points, it’s life.”

Poyet needs a rapid improvement in results to haul the Black Cats clear of relegation.

Form has improved and the mood is still hopeful and he added: “We need to win. We need to take a risk, sometimes that will make you lose, but I prefer to win one and lose one than get two draws.

“West Brom have stayed up after being bottom at Christmas, that stat doesn’t need to be mentioned. You need to get to 40 points.

“I’d love to get out of trouble before the last game but I’m not even dreaming about that.”